Heidi came out for another visit today. We picked apples for applesauce and apple juice, and whatever else strikes our canning fancy. We won’t have any shortage of apples considering we have 6 apple trees. That’s a lot of apples.

Yep, that’s my baby sister in the apple tree. She’s picking the heck out of those apples. No really, she is!

Even after picking all of these, we didn’t even make a dent in one tree. Five more to go. Looks like we have a lot more apple picking ahead of us.

Isobel was happy as could be playing with the wagon load of apples. I think she even snuck in a tiny bite or two. I like apples with baby bites the best.

We processed the last batch of grape juice, for a grand total of 58 quarts of juice from our grape arbor (hooray!).

And we started to make salsa, but we had to put it on hold until tomorrow. The weather is starting to turn very cold, and a lot of wind is forcast, so we will have to see just what we can get done this next week.

We have a big grape arbor on our property and we knew they were the type of graper perfect for juicing and jelly making. What we didn’t know was just how many grapes there were going to be. A lot. All I can say is wow. We picked the last of the grapes this weekend, and they are all juiced and just waiting to be put into jars and processed.

The minute Craig headed for the grape arbor, Finn was right behind him, ready to help as much as his little 2 year old self could.

The grapes, all purple and Concord-y. Like I said, there were a lot of these.

Craig had to do all of the picking because there were spiders in the grapes leaves. And I’m a big sissy.

We ended up filling this sink basin three different times with all of the grapes.

Noah was a great help, and we finished rinsing and sorting the grapes in no time.

Having two steam juicers going at once made it go so much faster.

We got 27 quarts of grape juice from the first round we picked.

 Now to process the second crop we juiced…

Somehow I managed to convince my sister Heidi that coming out to my house to can with me today was a great idea. Considering we both had a box of peaches that were on the verge of being too ripe, it wasn’t too hard to sweet talk her into it. I also had grape juice to get into jars and process, so we had a fair amount of work cut out for ourselves. All of our hard work paid off though, and at the end of our day we had canned 27 quarts of grape juice, 12 quarts plus 1 pint of peach juice and 12 jelly jars of kiwi jam. My mom came out in the middle of our canning frenzy with my Granny and Uncle Mark who had just arrived into town the other day, so we also had a fun visit with them, and my Mom brought dinner and saved the day. It’s hard to be in the middle of canning stuff and then have to stop right in the middle and try and get a meal on the table at the same time. So her food was not only delicious, but a gift straight from heaven. That, and my Mom makes the most amazing sandwiches. Oh yum! We had such a great time and it was so much fun, that Heidi just might be back on Saturday to help me make salsa, peach jam, and whatever else we come up with. I still have a silly notion to try making corn cob jelly or maybe tomato jam, just because they both sound so interesting and worth trying at least once? We’ll see. And we may also pick some of the apples from our trees and see how they do in the steam juicers and if the results are any good. Or maybe we will just make a ton of applesauce? Since we have 6 apple trees, I’m sure we will have more than enough apples to play around with to see just what we want to do with them after all. Anyone else canning? What have you been making?

Clenching a fistful of soil from her beloved Tara, Scarlett declares “Tomorrow is another day.” She’s right you know. It really is. Fresh with possibilities. Brand spankin’ new. Ripe and ready for me to tear into it. Here’s my chance to do better with another day.

This is Finn wearing what is usually referred to as his “Little Lord Fauntleroy” outfit for church.

My husband doesn’t like it. The few Sundays I have dared to outfit Finn in this ensemble, Craig rolls his eyes repeatedly and warns me that all of the other children in his nursery class at church will make a beeline for him to give him the proper beat down he deserves for being dressed like a sissy boy.

I personally love it, it’s my favorite Sunday outfit on him. To me it looks so classic. And lest you think I have crossed the line…

…let me direct your memories to two words. “Philip”& “Lederhosen”.

Every. Single. Sunday. Enough said.

Nope, the line isn’t even close to being crossed.

Finding music for my children can be somewhat of a challenge since their ages range from 9 to 2 years of age (For the 5 youngest anyways as my two teenagers are happy to be left to their own teenagery music at this time). Finding something they will all like can be difficult at times, in addition to being something that more than the kids are going to be able to enjoy. If I play it for my kids, then I have to listen to it as well. Which means “Barney’s Happy Lovey Sing Along” is just NOT going to happen. E.V.E.R. So I want my children’s music to be fun, happy, and upbeat, but it also needs to be something I like and can sing along with them and not want to stab a pen into my ear to stop the musical pain from repeating in my head over and over. Thankfully, there are current and relevant artists that have heard the call and answered with something that appeals to more than just the diaper set. Oh, and I just stumbled onto this blog ‘Kids Music That Rocks’, so I will have to read more of it and see what it has to offer as I get some time. (and clicking on the pics goes to amazon’s mp3 download page where you can listen to a sampling)

First up is this. I just love it. It’s next on my “must have” list.

And this album, made up of kids songs by various artists works for us too.

Ok, except for the last song, it just totally creeps me out. Sorry Tom.

They also did a 2nd and 3rd “For The Kids” albums which I also thought were worth checking out too.

I like how “Beatle-y” this one is.

One of the biggest hits at our house has been pretty much anything by “They Might Be Giants”. My kids love them, as do I, so it’s been an easy choice most times. They have several great albums directed solely at kids, as well as a lot of their previous albums which are also a lot of fun to listen to for any ages.

‘QU’ is the reigning favorite song on this album.

I happen to love the song ‘Fibber Island’, it’s my favorite.

We all like ‘Ooh La! Ooh La!’  on this one.

And I can’t leave without mentioning “Baby Songs”. I found this video at a thrift store years ago for $1 when my two oldest were still little, and it quickly became an odd favorite with them. I’m so not a fan. But my kids are/were. Rabid fans. There is an entire line of these “Baby Songs”videos too, all the more hours to torture yourself with.

“Baby Heroin” is a better name. Each of my 7 kidlets loved it at some point. No. I still don’t know why. I never liked it, but it made them happy so I relented for their sakes. One listen to “My Mommy Comes Back” and it will never leave your head. You will find yourself humming it at the strangest moments, without even realizing or liking it. Or maybe you will like it, and it really is great stuff, and I’m just being a musical jerk. Yep, that sounds about right. I guess I have an apology letter for Hap Palmer that I need to start writing.

“Dear Hap, I’m sorry you suck. Love Heather.”

i’m not…

washing, sorting, or folding laundry

cleaning the bathroom

sewing anything at all

cleaning my sewing space

reading the book I just started

feeling inspired by any mealtime recipes whatsoever

checking facebook

caught up with my email

delivering an important document to the school district

sending my children to school with a lovingly made lunch

making my bed

 sorting old toys

painting the nightstands and dresser

taking any of the mountains of bagged items we no longer need and donating them to the thrift store

picking zucchini or squash (it’s been over a week!)

cleaning out the furnace room

vacuuming my bedroom

What I am doing however is reading anything and everything on canning, looking up recipes, trying to organize and plan out what I will preserve and can this week, and hopefully I will get it all done and into my pantry. So if you happen to come to my house, just know I welcome you with all the happiness and joy in my heart, and I apologize for the disaster that is currently my laundry room in advance. And any other rooms that may possibly offend during your visit. Other than that, just know how happy I am to see you! And all cleaning and general housekeeping will resume shortly. Or so we hope.

I spent my Friday and Saturday afternoons doing this…

Not only time well spent, but a lot of fun too. I am way too nerdy about this. I think I like canning a little too much. There is something so incredibly satisfying about canning and preserving. Kind of addictive actually. In a good way. I hope. Anyways, next week I plan on canning Salsa and Mixed Fruit Cocktail. I can hardly wait! (nerd!)

I made a quick run to my parents storage sheds today to bring a load back in my Suburban of some of the canning jars and supplies we will be needing. I am going to try and work on getting a batch or two canned this weekend to try and save the tomatoes from my garden that we have been picking. They ripen at uneven rates, and I can pick enough to can 3 or 4 quarts at a time, so I will be working on that until next weekend, when Heidi and I (and anyone else that wants to join in) are planning on killing ourselves with boiling water baths and skinning fruit. How crazy am I for looking forward to that? Anyways, I came away with several boxes of quart jars, some pints, and some jelly jars, as well as grabbing five big water bath pots and some racks while I was at it, and basically just filled the back of my car with everything that I could reach that we might need until there was no more room to be had. There are still boxes and boxes of jars to be had there, but those will have to wait for another trip another time, most likely next week. I haven’t actually canned with a boiling water bath for over 10 years, so a lot of canning and preserving information and stuff will have to be re-read again. My memory about most of it is more than rusty. Thank heavens for ‘THIS SITE’, it has ALL of the information a Utah girl could ever want when it come to food preservation. And once again, another google pic. Still no camera to be found. *sigh*

Craig came home from his Mom’s with two giant boxes stuffed with fresh corn they had picked from Grandpa Kent’s garden. I was thrilled that my mother-in-law had also given me her favorite freezer recipe for storing it so that I would actually know just what in the heck to do with all of that corn. This afternoon I started in, and after shucking 10 ears and finding three huge, fat and very much alive worms, I put the boxes aside until my very kind and not so squeamish husband could shuck it for me. I know. I’m a sissy. So this evening after dinner he shucked both boxes in what seemed like mere minutes. And he didn’t come across any worms. I was the only lucky one it seems. Yay. My electric knife made short work of cutting the kernels from the corn cobs, for which I was grateful, as a regular knife would have made the whole process take three times as as long I’m sure. I was done in no time, and 53 cups of fresh corn kernels later, I had them blanched, bagged, labeled, and into the freezer. Well, minus the cool down time, but you get the idea. It’s going to be great having so much fresh corn on hand for the coming Fall and Winter months too. (And all of the pics are from google since I cannot for the life of me find my camera. It’s driving me crazy. And my post looked way too sad and plain without pics, so I added these. Better?)

I’m also planning on doing some more canning and preserving with my sister this next weekend, at least we are if all goes as planned. The grapes in our yard are ready to be picked any day now and made into juice, and I’m planning on buying several bushels of peaches and tomatoes from the local fruit stands to put up in quart jars as well. At least that’s my plan, but who knows how things will go. I’m excited to see what we can accomplish. Anyone else care to join us in our canning frenzy?